Cannonball 49: The Journey (Guardians of Ga’Hoole #2) by Kathryn Lasky

{ October 21, 2010 @ 2:25 am } · { Cannonball! (Books) }
{ Tags: books, children's literature, digger, eglantine, fantasy, fiction, ga'hoole, guardians of ga'hoole, gylfie, kathryn lasky, kludd, legends of ga'hoole, marella, noctus, otulissa, owls, owls of ga'hoole, series, soren, soren alba, the journey, twilight, tyto, tyto alba }

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole: Guardians of Ga’Hoole Books One, Two, and Three by Kathryn Lasky
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Journey

The second book of the Guardians of Ga’Hoole series fell rather flat for me. The book follows our quartet of heroes on their journey to the Great Ga’Hoole Tree, where they hope they will find a noble band of warrior owls to join.

My biggest problem with this volume is that there’s nothing here than couldn’t also be included in the next book. Yet, we still have to bear with all of the tedious summarizing that tends to happen at the beginning of serialized books (See: Babysitters Club, The and Sweet Valley High). First off, if you’re going to make me sit through all of that summarizing, then you’d better make it worth my while with something interesting. Second, if you want people to read your series, then you should stop assuming that people will start reading midway through. Once again, kids aren’t stupid; they’ll remember all the major plot points from the previous volume. Unnecessary summarizing was a big pet peeve of mine growing up. I hated having to read a whole chapter full of information I already knew.

Also, in this volume, Soren and his compatriots (notice that I didn’t list them or explain their backstories! That’s because I trust that you read my last review!) reach their destination, which turns out to be a cheap Hogwarts retread. I admit that I have issues with J.K. Rowling’s writing, but even I have to concede that the woman has an imagination that can’t be beat. If you can’t think of a setting for your fantasy novel other than a school for [insert subject of series here], then it might be time to keep thinking.

All in all, there wasn’t much in this volume that couldn’t have been deleted or compacted and tacked onto the beginning of the next book.

View all my reviews